analytic
by mellifluous misery
Summary: all along, she, the champion, was never really the best


It would seem strange to some that two children of such different characters would be the best of friends. Brendan Birch was a quiet, analytic boy. She, on the other hand, was loud and passionate. But it seemed that their common goal united them. "I'm going to be a pokemon master!" - that, they had told each other the very first time they met.

Ironically, receiving their starters marked an end to those days of their childhood when they had been completely inseparable. But just as they remained the closest of friends, their journey through Hoenn remained intertwined - it seemed like every other week that they'd meet up in the middle of a forest route, battle, travel together for a bit, then separate to leave for different destinations. Lately, however, she thought Brendan seemed to be growing distant. It troubled her.

She was still terribly surprised and not just a little disappointed when he informed her that he was quitting training, two badges away from League qualification. When he had told her that he had found his calling in research.

Like father, like son, she supposed. But she was still filled with an sense of regret for all of his wasted talent - between them, he had always been the better battler. Regret that their journey together was coming to an end.

* * *

They drifted further apart after that. He returned to Littleroot to work with his father's lab, studying the effects of habitat loss on populations of native Hoenn pokemon. She went to the distant island of Ever Grande to challenge the League, where, to her own surprise, she emerged victorious. Granted the privilege of battling against the Elite Four, she soon discovered that they were aptly named - their ability was at a whole new level compared to the fellow trainers she had faced in the League. Even so, through sheer willpower and a healthy dose of serendipity, she managed to command her team through a series of four narrow victories.

Then came the champion. She didn't expect victory. But in the final stages of the battle, as she willed her Blaziken to stand up again after receiving a brutal Zen Headbutt, as she watched the smoke cleared from the Flare Blitz she had so desperately called out - she felt a strange sense of certainty come over her. Victory would would be hers.

Naturally, the tabloids went wild. Steven Stone had soundly defeated each and every one of his challengers for the past five years, and for him to fall against a rookie of only two years' experience was utterly unthinkable. May Maple was truly prodigious, the papers declared. Parallels were drawn between her own meteoric ascent and that of Cynthia, the famously undefeated Sinnoh Champion.

Despite all the celebrations, she found herself feeling curiously gloomy. Brendan had not attended any of her matches on Ever Grande. He hadn't even called to offer a word of congratulations after her victory. It was only later that she found out that he had been on an expedition to one of the remote islands on the outskirts of the of Hoenn at the time.

* * *

Five years flew by, and their friendship regained some semblance of regularity. But for all her achievements as Champion, and all of the publications that he made, she felt something was missing. A spark. She remembered the fire that would burn in his eyes as he commanded his pokemon against hers when they chanced upon each other on some overgrown path under the trees. It was gone now. When they did meet, it was all just 'how's the progress on your paper?' and 'how did the last battle with that challenger go?' - idle niceties that went nowhere.

Though frustrated by their fading friendship, she surprised even herself when she challenged him to a battle when they next met. As she watched the surprise fade from his ruby eyes, she thought she saw just a bit of the old spark return when he accepted the challenge.

She was rather bemused when _he_ led _her_ onto the arena and retrieved his first pokeball from where he'd secreted it under his coat. She hadn't known that he still kept his team with him. With a small pang of nostalgia, she released her first pokemon just as he called out his.

A Magnezone. This could be interesting...

* * *

When her Blaziken fell, all she could feel was a strange sense of resolution. So - after all this time - he was still the better battler.

But that feeling soon passed and she lapsed into shocked confusion. _She_ was supposed to be the best in all Hoenn. When it came to strategies and techniques in battling, she was the one who had seen them all. Yet he had still managed to disorient her. Still managed to _defeat_ her.

He, a trainer five years into his retirement. A scientist. Not a battler.

It didn't make sense.

Hating herself for stuttering, she managed to call across the battlefield, "...h-how? Brendan - how?"

Bearing the most genuine smile she had seen on him for years, he strode across the field toward her and offered his hand to her. "Well," he began, "it wasn't much, but there were a few times when you shoul-"

She cut him off by squeezing his hand, feeling laughter bubble up in spite of herself. "Forget _that_!"

This was the Brendan she had grown up with, the analytic and frequently unintentionally arrogant boy she had known and loved. The boy who pointed out her mistakes after every battle.

She pulled him closer. "But I do wonder about something - Brendan. We both know how much you enjoyed that. So tell me why... Why did you stop? Why did you leave your jour- no, _our_ journey? Wasn't that always your dream - to be the best? To be... to be a pokemon master?" In a way, it felt refreshing, finally asking the question that had been bothering her since that fateful day on the outskirts of Lilycove.

Clearly she had not chosen her words carefully, for his smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a curiously blank expression.

"I'm happy as I am now, Miss Maple," he replied, but his voice lacked conviction.

Afraid of losing him, she seized on that uncertainty. "Really?"

With a grimace, he pulled his hand from her grip and turned around. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I have a conference to be at."

With a note of desperation entering her voice, she persisted, "Brendan? Why?" She paused, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "Brendan... Don't you care about me? About _us_!?"

That made him hesitate and turn back to face her. "I do," he said, offering her a sad little smile. "But only _one_ person can be the best."

* * *

It was only as she watched him recede into the distance when she finally realised how much he truly cared.


End file.
